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Sandra Lobo with the nonprofit Our Bronx was among many speakers at a March 27 rally against expanding the Cross Bronx Expressway. <\/p>\n
Photo by Emily Swanson <\/p>\n
Dozens of advocates and elected officials joined a March 27 rally to say no to any plan that widens the Cross Bronx Expressway, continuing their long fight for equitable repairs to the highway and its surrounding infrastructure<\/p>\n
Ahead of an April 7 state deadline to select a construction proposal<\/a>, protestors met at the Bronx River Arts Center in West Farms, overlooking the notorious Cross Bronx. Attendees held signs saying, \u201cmore lanes = more pain\u201d and \u201ccommunities over concrete.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The group included Assembly Members Amanda Septimo and Emerita Torres, State Senators Nathalia Fernandez and Jose M. Serrano and Council Member Justin Sanchez, plus representatives from a slew of advocacy groups, including Bronx River Alliance, Our Bronx, Transportation Alternatives, The Point CDC, Bronx Council for Environmental Equity, the Jewish Climate Action Network, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rally also featured several students from Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, who have grown up near heavy traffic and pollution from the Cross Bronx.\n<\/p>\n The Cross Bronx Expressway<\/a> has for decades symbolized harmful urban planning and brought disproportionate pollution and traffic to the Bronx, all while slicing through neighborhoods and displacing thousands of residents for its construction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, the highway\u2019s bridges require significant repair, and advocates have long been opposed to the state\u2019s $900 million plan<\/a> to widen the expressway shoulders by 25 feet on each side to facilitate repairs on five bridges between Boston Road and Rosedale Ave. The construction project is expected to last six years, starting this year.<\/p>\n Though DOT maintains the project would not bring a disproportionate pollution burden, advocates have expressed frustration about what they called a rushed<\/a> public engagement process and a lack of options that don\u2019t involve widening the roadway.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement sent to the Bronx Times, a DOT spokesperson said, \u201cThis is not an expansion project of the expressway, rather a project that will enhance safety and ensure that the infrastructure of the Bronx is resilient for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe New York State Department of Transportation is fully committed to making historic investments in the Bronx and to right the wrongs of past generations. As we advance a project to provide urgently needed rehabilitation of five aging bridges on the Cross Bronx Expressway, we have engaged with the community at every step of the way, making significant changes to the proposed alternatives in direct response to public feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to prior community pushback, DOT previously took what advocates viewed as the worst proposal<\/a> off the table. But advocates said each of the remaining proposals somehow involves widening the notorious highway \u2014 to which they said they won\u2019t give an inch.<\/p>\n At the rally, Assembly Member Torres announced a new bill, the \u201cStop Highway Community Harm Act,\u201d which blocks the state from adding highway lanes within 200 feet of NYCHA developments and in high-asthma zip codes. The bill has support from multiple other elected officials and groups present at the rally.\u00a0<\/p>\n Torres said the concept of expanding the roadway stands in \u201cstark contradiction\u201d to the community\u2019s efforts to clean up the Bronx River and beautify the neighborhood with Starlight Park and Concrete Plant Park.<\/p>\n \u201cAny expansion is too much. It is unacceptable for our community,\u201d Torres said. \u201cWe cannot move backwards.\u201d\u00a0 Siddhartha Sanchez with Bronx River Alliance<\/a> said the construction project will impact 3,000 NYCHA residents at Bronx River Houses, along with 64,000 other nearby residents, for decades to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sanchez said the Bronx has too long been an epicenter of destructive urban planning and called on Hochul and the DOT to \u201chalt the expansion and prioritize our community\u2019s vision before it\u2019s too late.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Assembly Member Septimo praised the community\u2019s ongoing resistance effort, which she said will continue \u201cuntil the state understands that the days of dumping on the Bronx are over.\u201d<\/p>\n The state must come up with another plan that does not involve widening the highway, she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cWho cares if it\u2019s more expensive? Bronx lives are worth the money. Who cares if it takes more time? Bronx lives are worth the time,\u201d Septimo said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Laura Waxman from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign<\/a> said Hochul and the state have \u201cthe golden opportunity to course-correct, to turn the page on decades of destructive, disruptive and dangerous harm caused by this highway.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The state\u2019s current plans would result in increased truck traffic and a loss of valuable trees, Waxman said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cBronx communities have carried these burdens for generations, and they can\u2019t take another hit,\u201d she said, adding that the borough is \u201cdone paying the price for a broken model.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To close out the rally, Dariella Rodriguez with The Point CDC<\/a> pledged the community\u2019s partnership and presence not only for protests but to help the state find a Cross Bronx solution acceptable to those who will be most affected.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are offering to help figure this out and do it right. We\u2019ve been offering that since the beginning of this proposal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Reach Emily Swanson at\u00a0eswanson@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0(646) 717-0015<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n \t
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Assembly Member Emerita Torres introduced a bill that would block the state from adding lanes to any highway in high-asthma areas or within 200 feet of public housing. Photo by Emily Swanson\n<\/p>\n